Larry McMurtry’s Tall Tales Larry McMurtry’s Tall Tales
By questioning the myth of the cowboy, he offered a different kind of legend, one more suited to this country and its contradictions.
Apr 16, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Gus O’Connor
The Worlds of Jamaica Kincaid The Worlds of Jamaica Kincaid
Memory pervades a new collection of nonfiction, and so do the ghosts of empire.
Apr 8, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Edna Bonhomme
Ben Lerner’s Novel of Fathers and Sons Ben Lerner’s Novel of Fathers and Sons
His most experimental and unsettling book, Transcription as us whether art is futile or the most important weapon we have.
Apr 7, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Tara K. Menon
Jay McInerney’s Yuppie New York Jay McInerney’s Yuppie New York
The novelist has spent a career mocking and romanticizing the lifestyle of New York's bourgeoisie. Now, in his latest, he examines them as they come to the end of their lives.
Apr 6, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Erin Somers
The Enigma of Gertrude Stein The Enigma of Gertrude Stein
Why do we misunderstand one of modernism’s great writers?
Mar 30, 2026 / Books & the Arts / David Schurman Wallace
What Its Like to Serve the Chinese Elite What Its Like to Serve the Chinese Elite
Zhang Yueran’s novel Women, Seated—a take on the upstairs, downstairs drama—examines class conflict among the Chinese upper crust and the people who wait on them.
Mar 27, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Ting Lin
In “Bomarzo,” the Renaissance Man is a Monster In “Bomarzo,” the Renaissance Man is a Monster
Manuel Mujica Lainez’s historical novel, a strange biography of a 16th-century duke, leaves the reader wondering if human nature can ever change.
Mar 26, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Max Pearl
The Trouble With Adapting “Wuthering Heights” The Trouble With Adapting “Wuthering Heights”
Why adaptations of Emily Brontë’s novel, across generations, have misunderstood the work and its world.
Mar 24, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Victoria Baena
Has Contemporary Fiction Ignored the Working Class? Has Contemporary Fiction Ignored the Working Class?
Claire Baglin’s bracing On the Clock gives its readers a close look at work behind the fry station, and in the process asks what experiences are missing from mainstream letters.
Feb 26, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Rachel Vorona Cote
The Riotous Worlds of Thomas Pynchon The Riotous Worlds of Thomas Pynchon
From “The Crying Lot of 49” to his latest noirs, the American novelist has always proceeded along a track strangely parallel to our own.
Feb 10, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Kunkel